Sunday, September 16, 2012

The haiden and wedded trees of Takachiho Jinja
(photos courtesy of the shrine)

Date founded: Tradition
holds that the shrine was founded by Emperor Suinin between 29 b.c. and a.d.
70. The present buildings are from 1778.

Address: 1037 Mitai, Takachiho-cho,
Nishiusugi-gun, Miyazaki 882-1101

Tel/Information: 0982-72-2413. A pamphlet in English entitled
“Guide to Takachiho” is available at the Tourist information Center near
Takachiho Station or from the Takachiho Bus Center.

How to get there: From Kumamoto
Airport or Kumamoto Station it’s a two-hour bus ride to the Takachiho Bus Center
and then about fifteen minutes by foot to the shrine. Alternatively, take the JR Nichiran
Line from Miyazaki City to Nobeoka Station. Transfer to the bus for a ninety-minute ride to the
Takachiho Bus Center.

Enshrined kami: Takachiho Sumegami and Jisha Daimyojin.

Prayers offered: Safety on the
roadways, success in love or marriage, and protection from misfortune.

Best times to go: Autumn for the
changing colors.

Important physical features:
Takachiho Jinja is located in the mountains between Miyazaki and Kumamoto. The
area is landlocked but traversed by the Gokase River that runs all the way to
the ocean, with an outlet at Nobeoka City on the Miyazaki coast. Proof of
civilization from the Paleolithic period (40,000–14,000 b.c.) has been uncovered at various
sites along the river in Takachiho. The scenery along the river is one of the
natural properties of the area that attracts tourists. Takachiho Jinja is set
in a grove of old Japanese cypress trees in the city of Takachiho. The haiden is five bays wide, with three
bays having folding doors and the two outer bays covered in squared lattice
panels. The irimoya gabled,
copper-tile–covered roof is perpendicular to the honden behind it (the entrance is on the gabled side) and has a karahafu step canopy. There is a chidorihafu behind the step canopy. The
roof ridge runs right-to-left, but the perpendicular roof ridge of the chidorihafu is actually higher.
Behind this, a three-by-two–bay honden
is a typical nagare-zukuri structure,
also with a copper-clad roof, and an unusually high number of katsuogi (nine) on the roof ridge. But
the most interesting feature of the honden
is its unique carvings. One of these is a fully realized sculpture of Mikenu no
mikoto (a brother of Jinmu Tenno) brandishing a sword over the head of a pleading Kihachi. The story is
told that Mikenu killed a demon named Kihachi, who had been terrorizing the community.
He cut him up into three parts and buried him in different locations. Even
today, a festival is held every year to quell the spirit of the demon. Such
sculptures are extremely rare, especially for a honden. To the eyes of a Westerner it seems to be rather
Christian-influenced. But other unusual features point to a different influence
entirely. There is a door in the side of the front bay, carvings of phoenixes
under the gable, frog-leg struts (kaerumata)
on the tie-beams, shrimp-shaped rainbow beams (ebikoryo) connecting the extended roof support-pillars to the main
structure, and decorative rafter struts (tabasami).
These are all marks of the zenshuyo
style, a Buddhist-influenced style favored by the Tokugawa. All together they
make for a very interesting honden.
Both the honden and haiden are in unfinished wood, but the
traces of previous polychroming are still evident. To the front left side of
the haiden stand two towering
Chichibu cedars, each almost two hundred feet tall and estimated to be eight
hundred years old. They are growing so close to each other that they have
joined at the base. Such trees (many are found at shrines throughout Japan) are thought of as a married couple and prayers for
prosperity, harmony and the well being of the family, are made in front of
these twin trees.

Aside
from the shrine itself, other favorite destinations in the area include hiking
up the many mountain trails and enjoying the sites along the Gokase River. Lava
that once flowed from Mount Aso in neighboring Kumamoto created vertical
formations of rock. The river has cut deeply into the lava, exposing the
pillar-like structure and creating a narrow chasm called Takachiho Gorge. There
is a walking route along the river that stretches for about half a mile and
rowboats can be rented at one end of the trail (1,500 yen for thirty minutes
and a maximum of three people per boat). Rowing through Takachiho Gorge and
past the fifty-foot Minai no taki waterfall is probably the most interesting part
of the trip. This is one of the biggest attractions in the area, so expect
crowds on the weekend. Boats can be rented from 7:30 a.m. in the summer months.

Important spiritual features: Mount
Takachiho is where the Kojiki and Nihon shoki record that the grandson of
Amaterasu, Ninigi no mikoto, was sent to earth to begin the process that led to
the founding of the Yamato state and ultimately Japan. I go into some detail about this important myth in "Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion." However there is some
disagreement about which Mount Takachiho is meant. The prevailing opinion seems
to point to Takachiho no mine in the southern part of Miyazaki
prefecture. Be that as it may, this jinja
enshrines Takachiho Sumegami (a combination of Ninigi no mikoto, his wife
Konohanasakuya hime, one of their sons Hohodemi no mikoto, his wife Toyotama hime,
and their son Ugayafukiaezu and his wife Tamayori hime). In other words it
enshrines three generations of kami—beginning
with the descent from heaven—as well as their wives and offspring. In addition,
Jisha Daimyojin (a combination of Jinmu’s brother Mikenu no mikoto and his wife
Unome hime and their eight children) is also enshrined. According to the Kojiki and Nihon shoki, Jinmu and three
brothers set out from Kyushu to conquer the other clans. Along the way, the
brothers were killed or went missing, with only Jinmu surviving the ordeal. The
shrine seems to have a long history since a Takachiho Jinja is mentioned in
the Sandai jitsuroku (written between
850 and 858). But in the premodern era it was called Jisha Daimyojin or
Jishagu, reflecting the possibility that it had come under the influence of the
Kumamoto shrines and Shinto-Buddhist syncretism. As of the year 1743, there
were eighteen villages and 554 shrines in the vicinity of Takachiho,
eighty-eight of which were considered the most important (possibly modeled on
the eighty-eight–temple pilgrimage of Shikoku), of which this was one. But the
Meiji government restricted each village to one shrine in 1871, and the
shrine was renamed Mitai Jinja after the clan that ruled the area until 1598.
In 1895, the name of the shrine was changed again, to Takachiho Jinja.

Yokagura of Takachiho

Description: Although Takachiho is
known as the place where Ninigi no mikoto descended, it is also famous for the
“heavenly rock-cave” (Amano Iwato) where Amaterasu Omikami hid her light from
the world. The legendary site of this cave is in Takachiho, about six miles
northeast of the town. Takachiho is perhaps best known for its reenactment of
this and other creation myths. This is a city devoted to kagura, traditional dance and music dedicated to the kami. The particular style of kagura performed in Takachiho is called yokagura (“night kagura”). This is a
series of thirty-three dances performed during the winter months from November
to February, when the homes of townsfolk become impromptu stages for the dance.
Once the exclusive provenance of miko
(shrine priestesses) and professional kagura
troupes, this dance form spread to the countryside in the Edo period. But it
remains an art dedicated to the kami,
and shrine priests will first purify the house where the performance is to be
held and invite the kami to enter.
The performers, called hoshadon, are
drawn from the local population. There are currently twenty-four groups,
totaling about 480 dancers. Performances begin around 7 or 8 p.m. on Saturday
night and continue until the following afternoon—about twenty hours, with only
one break. People bring a blanket and their own food and drink to sustain themselves
during the long performances, which in some cases can only be viewed from
outside the house. The performance is not designed for tourists, though tourists do attend.
An offering of about 3000 yen is required. For those not privileged to join in
this ancient celebration, a shortened version is held nightly at Takachiho
Jinja, for an entry fee of 500 yen. Four performances are held in the kaguraden of the shrine and present the
myth of the “heavenly rock-cave” featuring the dance of Ame no uzume (albeit a
toned-down version), the legendary origin of kagura, and the mighty Tajikarao, who rolled away the stone
covering the cave entrance.

Festivals: Shishikake Matsuri (Wild
Boar Festival), 3 December. This is an ancient festival that is actually a
memorial service (ireisai) for the
demon Kihachi. It seems that repeated early frost was killing the crops, and it
was determined that this was the curse of the demon Kihachi. One of the kami enshrined
here, Mikenu no mikoto, killed the demon and cut him into three pieces, burying
the parts in different places to keep him from arising again. However the
frosts continued, and it was decided to make a festival for the demon and
sacrifice a young maiden to him. It is said that this was done until sometime in the medieval
period, when a wild boar was substituted for the maiden.

Yokagura Festival, 21 November to
10 February. Please check the schedule by calling the Takachiho Sightseeing office (in
Japanese) at 0982-73-1212. A total of thirty-three performances of this special
kagura are held throughout the
weekends of the festival.

About This Blog

This blog is a guide to Shinto shrines throughout Japan. It is intended as a supplement to the book "Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan's Ancient Religion" which I co-authored with John Dougill. The book is published by University of Hawaii Press. It is also intended as a place to continue to publish my research into shrines and their history and as a forum for those interested in Shinto in general and shrines in particular.
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